Huge electricity bill?

law4elc

I have a problem with my electricity account.

I moved into my new house about a year ago now. I started paying bills to British Gas on the basis of the meter serial number which the builders had previously paid bills in relation to.

It transpired that the serial number was incorrect and relates to a neighbouring property. British Gas are now saying they cannot find my actual meter on the National Grid!

I have spoken to them probably close to 20 times to try and sort this issue out.....all I want to do is pay money for my electricity but they don't seem to be able to help.

I now haven't paid for electricity since May 2010 and am scared I will receive a whopping bill which will be backdated to then. Has anyone had any experience of this? Can they make me pay a huge bill after so much time?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :T

Thanks.

McKneff

Of course they can make yu pay a whopping bill, if you have consumed the electricity.

Have yu been putting money away each month to cover what yu may have consumed within that month.

If not I would start doing it now.

Antispam

If you consumed the electric they will bill you, the best thing is to try and negotiate payment which is affordable and will pay off any further usage and a percentage of debt. If you cant pay they may fit a prepaid meter which will do as above but maybe harder to change provider or get a good rate

If you haven't paid since May I do hope you have had the foresight to put some money aside, electric isnt free

macman

They can back bill up to a year, so certainly to May 2010.

Foggster

I may be misreading this but if you have been paying the bills then surely there wont be a whopping great big bill to pay? Have you checked that they have your money on an account (be on the neighbours account) which they are agreeing to move to the correct account once this mix up has been sorted?

Where is your meter? Have you been reading it?

Go back to the builders and ask their advice, they have caused the problem.

Have you spoken to your neighbour to ask what bills they have been paying?

Cardew

Firstly don't keep telephoning them, you will only speak to a BG call centre operator who frankly isn't interested in 'problem' accounts.

Write to them explaining the issue and request they sort it out asap.

As long as you put away some money to cover potential bills it is BG's problem. In situations like this, where you are not at fault, you will usually gain an advantage because BG will reduce what you owe by 10% or more.

If BG have stopped billing you, and you have written to them, after May your arrears should not increase as the 12 month back-billing rule comes into effect.

As long as you have put money aside to pay for what you have used, it isn't a problem you need to worry about.

The assumption has been made that BG are your supply company - on new build estates the builder usually deals with one company - but it is possible that it will turn out that another company are your supplier.